Prospect Info: Draft 2025 Habs you're on the clock

[Quatre Vingt Treize]

Out of left field Habs select Ravensbergen with 17OA

Now that is called going off the board?

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Now that is called going off the board?

Not where he’s ranked, more about perceived need

 

[Scriptor]

First, really not a fan of this year's draft. First intention is to at least trade 1 if not both of these first pick for the 2nd C we're so desperate for.

BUT, if we do go in with full intention of drafting ;
Hopefully O'Brien falls just enough for us to trade up to grab him. If not, maybe Carter Bear falls to us due to his nasty injury. Then with the 17th I'd go Martin, Ryabkin, Carbonneau whoever is still available, in that order.

Brzustewicz if he's available with one of our 2nd,

Goalies : I'd keep an eye on Lucas Beckman. He goes down a little too fast but the rest looks pretty solid for his age. Langevin opening some eyes too with his recent performances.

I'd consider Spence as well...

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

First, really not a fan of this year's draft. First intention is to at least trade 1 if not both of these first pick for the 2nd C we're so desperate for.

BUT, if we do go in with full intention of drafting ;
Hopefully O'Brien falls just enough for us to trade up to grab him. If not, maybe Carter Bear falls to us due to his nasty injury. Then with the 17th I'd go Martin, Ryabkin, Carbonneau whoever is still available, in that order.

Brzustewicz if he's available with one of our 2nd,

Goalies : I'd keep an eye on Lucas Beckman. He goes down a little too fast but the rest looks pretty solid for his age. Langevin opening some eyes too with his recent performances.

I don't think there is any chance of Martin falling to us and I absolutely would trade up to get him. I have been a fan of O'Brien and Martin with our picks for most of the season but unfortunately for us they have displayed it for everyone to see at this point and are no longer possibilities at 16/17.

I think they will focus on adding some size to the pool so players like Hensler, Spence, Nesbitt, Carbonneau, Zonnon, Gastrin, Murtagh, Wozniak etc have to be on their radar as well at either 16/17 or in a trade down situation.or Lakovic (if they believe that he will not be as soft as warm butter).

Obviously Bear will be an option if he falls to us as well.

Also......if McQueen starts falling do they roll the dice and try to move up and take him?

I don't believe that they will even consider any undersized players like Potter, Kindel, Schmidt or Reschny unless they fall to us in the second round. It is also difficult to imagine them selecting an undersized LHD like Reid despite the fact that they probably really like his game.

 

[Treb]

Out of left field Habs select Ravensbergen with 17OA

is it worth it to spend a 1st round pick on a guy that wouldn't be your top goalie prospect?

 

[Habs]

BPA is the only way to go, stop this drafting by need garbage. If it’s a LHD, grab him, nothing is a guarantee with our current blueline’s health. IF it’s a RHD, fine, who knows about Reinbacher , we need help everywhere

 

[Team_Spirit]

 

[Treb]

I believe there are better options at 16/17th, but if he's somehow still there at 41.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

That is impressive but I do not think that Hugo even considers for a moment drafting an undersized perimeter/distributor at 16/17.

There isn't a spot in our top six for the foreseeable future for this type of player and undersized prospects are much more difficult to trade for good value so even his value as an asset will be diminished.

 

[McGees]

Spence / Lakovic / Aitcheson / Bear

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

BPA is the only way to go, stop this drafting by need garbage. If it’s a LHD, grab him, nothing is a guarantee with our current blueline’s health. IF it’s a RHD, fine, who knows about Reinbacher , we need help everywhere

They really haven’t sacrificed upside for positional need. They’ve been using them as tie breakers. Wright certainly isn’t looking higher upside than Slaf. It’s not like Cooley is breaking records. He scored like 9 more points than Slaf and he will NEVER be able to leverage his size like Slaf has let alone how much stronger Slaf will be in that regard. Leonard isn’t exactly making Reinbacher look like a bad pick at this point. And Demidov has higher upside than them all.

 

[Zilo44]

They really haven’t sacrificed upside for positional need. They’ve been using them as tie breakers. Wright certainly isn’t looking higher upside than Slaf. It’s not like Cooley is breaking records. He scored like 9 more points than Slaf and he will NEVER be able to leverage his size like Slaf has let alone how much stronger Slaf will be in that regard. Leonard isn’t exactly making Reinbacher look like a bad pick at this point. And Demidov has higher upside than them all.

Love how you avoided Michkov

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Love how you avoided Michkov

I thought it’s all been settled that he wanted to go to Philly.

Well that’s the ONE time we could say MAYBE we sacrificed upside ONLY if Michkov didn’t have his heart set on Philly and made that happen.

And even then Reinbacher has the pedigree of an absolute stud and besides this ONE injury all he’s done is shown that pretty regularly.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I thought it’s all been settled that he wanted to go to Philly.

Well that’s the ONE time we could say MAYBE we sacrificed upside ONLY if Michkov didn’t have his heart set on Philly and made that happen.

And even then Reinbacher has the pedigree of an absolute stud and besides this ONE injury all he’s done is shown that pretty regularly.

The whole Philly thing is pure nonsense from fans and it doesn't matter because Hughes and Gorton did not want him and I agree with their logic. There is a section of posters here who always look for the conspiracy/anti management take and run with it.....evidence be damned lol.

Fans in general are much closer to fantasy hockey fans than they are to knowledgeable hockey fans who actually understand the game and team building. We have both types on this site unfortunately the former example is the most common but all opinions are welcome as long as they are based in earnest and not in the need to stir up sh*t.

I think Reinbacher will be more valuable than Michkov when the games mater the most and that is why he was selected ahead of Michkov.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Love how you avoided Michkov

Reinbacher was deemed to be the more valuable asset as was the following pick (Simashev).

The nonsense around here surrounding Michkov is nothing short of nauseating. Seriously people, go outside and enjoy the summer weather.....get over it already.

 

[Benning]

BPA is the only way to go, stop this drafting by need garbage. If it’s a LHD, grab him, nothing is a guarantee with our current blueline’s health. IF it’s a RHD, fine, who knows about Reinbacher , we need help everywhere

Up to a certain point. Habs can't be drafting any more undersized/soft players. Unfortunately, these are the guys that most often slide down. Because they slide so much, the BPA is very often an undersized player. We have benefited greatly from this: Caulfield and Hutson. IMO two players like them is the max you can have in your 7-8 player core.
I'm OK with BPA for position, but we have to skip the very small /soft players, even if they are the most talented players available to us. I'm OK with any position, with a preference for forwards, but grit and/or size is a must. Besides Slaf, our top 6 is very soft. Talented, but soft...

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

is it worth it to spend a 1st round pick on a guy that wouldn't be your top goalie prospect?

Wouldn’t be my first choice but I was also Team Brule in 05. Can never have enough depth between the pipes as we have seen in these playoffs

 

[Treb]

Wouldn’t be my first choice but I was also Team Brule in 05. Can never have enough depth between the pipes as we have seen in these playoffs

Sure, but you can get depth between the pipes past the first round. They already have Dobes, Fowler, Volokhin and Miller (Vecvanags and Croteau too I guess) as young goalies.

Habs shouldn't be desperate enough to go for Ravensbergen instead of going for one of the goalies in round 2-5.

 

[Erika]

BPA is the only way to go, stop this drafting by need garbage. If it’s a LHD, grab him, nothing is a guarantee with our current blueline’s health. IF it’s a RHD, fine, who knows about Reinbacher , we need help everywhere

There is no such thing as BPA at the 16th or 17th rank. This is just silly fantasy by fans.

The BPA at 18 years old will probably not be the BPA at 25 years old.

Every team has their own list, there's absolutely no way to tell that far into the first round, expecially in a weak draft where players ranked between 15th and 40th are all very close in terms of skillset.

Prioritizing organizational needs and long term potential just makes more sense in those situations.

 

[River Meadow]

BPA is the only way to go, stop this drafting by need garbage. If it’s a LHD, grab him, nothing is a guarantee with our current blueline’s health. IF it’s a RHD, fine, who knows about Reinbacher , we need help everywhere

This is the way.

 

[Scriptor]

Up to a certain point. Habs can't be drafting any more undersized/soft players. Unfortunately, these are the guys that most often slide down. Because they slide so much, the BPA is very often an undersized player. We have benefited greatly from this: Caulfield and Hutson. IMO two players like them is the max you can have in your 7-8 player core.
I'm OK with BPA for position, but we have to skip the very small /soft players, even if they are the most talented players available to us. I'm OK with any position, with a preference for forwards, but grit and/or size is a must. Besides Slaf, our top 6 is very soft. Talented, but soft...

Ryabkin:

C
6'0"
201lbs
Skilled player who plays physically with a bitten all three zones.

He will slip and isn't undersized.

 

[Scriptor]

This is the way.

Depending on whether Mrtka is available after the top-10, moving up by giving loads of picks to a soon-to-be rebuilding team named Pittsburgh might be the way to go.

I would not give them both 1st rounders, though.

17th (ideally)
43rd (their own 2nd rounder back)
49th (Montreal's 2nd rounder)
81st (Montreal's 3rd rounder)
113th (Montreal's 4th rounder)


I'd want Montreal to take Mrtka + Ryabkin.

I'd even substitute Montreal's 2nd rounder in 2026 for thier 4th rounder and keep the third rounder in the offer if we keep the 16th OA.

17th (Montreal's 1st rounder)
43rd (their own 2nd rounder back)
49th (Montreal's 2nd rounder)
81st (Montreal's 3rd rounder)
Montreal's 2nd round pick in2026

 

[Habs]

There is no such thing as BPA at the 16th or 17th rank. This is just silly fantasy by fans.

The BPA at 18 years old will probably not be the BPA at 25 years old.

Every team has their own list, there's absolutely no way to tell that far into the first round, expecially in a weak draft where players ranked between 15th and 40th are all very close in terms of skillset.

Prioritizing organizational needs and long term potential just makes more sense in those situations.

You don't take Caufield if you don't take BPA, so your reply is 100% wrong. However you also get stuck with Kotkaniemi if you don't take BPA.

 

[Erika]

You don't take Caufield if you don't take BPA, so your reply is 100% wrong. However you also get stuck with Kotkaniemi if you don't take BPA.

You clearly did not see what I wrote.

I said: There is no such thing as BPA at the 16th or 17th rank.

Kotkaniemi was 3rd overall, not even in the same rank conversation. Can't you read ?

For 1 Cole Caufield, there are dozens of other busts that was BPA at the time of the draft.

In 2014, BPA at 16th, a pick held by the Blue Jackets Columbus, was around guys like Sonny Milano, Travis Sanheim, Tony DeAngelo and Nick Schmaltz.

They selected Milano at 16th... at 26th overall there was a guy named David Pastrnak picked by Boston...

Guess who won that ?! There's hundreds of other examples.

In 2019, BPA at 17th, a pick held by Colorado, was guys like Alex Newhook, Payton Krebs, Samuel Poulin...

They selected Alex Newhook at 17th ahahhaa.... at 25th overall, Connor McMichael got picked by Washington and Shane Pinto went to Ottawa at 32th overall... 2 players who are miles better than Newhook now and that weren't viewed as the BPA at 17th at the time...

You want me to continue ?! So my reply was right regardless of what you think.

 

[Paradoxe]

Am I the only one that do not get the : «This is a weak draft»? I would rather see a new Era draft where new facilities in amateur sport, a new metric system to build a player, and new techniques to teach them how to best themselves, can widen the prospect pool to a whole new level.

Skating ability, for example, has had a major boost in the last five years. Hockey IQ seems to follow the same curve and mass structure.

Yeah, I know genetic and generic talent are a thing that scouts value the most, like any generational skill set, but are we in front of a higher floor of prospects?